Wicked - The Witches of Oz
by danzingthrulife
Summary: All of Oz was celebrating. People dressed in every possible shade of green were dancing on the streets, children were playing and everywhere only one phrase was heard, gleefully shouted like a greeting. "The Wicked Witch of the West is dead!" - Written down version of the musical plot, some scenes/dialouges/etc. added
1. Prologue: No One Mourns the Wicked

All of Oz was celebrating. The streets of the Emerald City were buzzing with the happy chattering, busy bustling and joyful music that accompanied every Ozian festivity.

People dressed in every possible shade of green were dancing on the streets, children were playing and everywhere only one phrase was heard, gleefully shouted like a greeting and yelled by the newspaper boys distributing the special edititon:

"The Wicked Witch of the West is dead!"

No one knew exactly how it had happened, but several rumours were starting to spread, especially concerning the Wizard's rather hasty departure.

There was only one person now that would be able to answer all their questions: Glinda the Good.

She had taken the matters into her hands after the demise of both the Wizard and the Wicked Witch and was now the officially appointed ruler of Oz.

Of course she wouldn't miss the chance to join her fellow Ozians in their celebrating and soon the infamous shimmering bubble was sighted near the Emerald Palace, descending towards the cheering crowd.

"Glinda, look, children, it's Glinda the Good in her bubble! She's coming to celebrate with us!"

Celebration. Happiness. Cheering.

Glinda put a smile on her face as she descended into the crowd, the bubble popping with a clearly audible 'Plop' that resulted in more cheering from the crowd.

"My dear Ozians", Glinda's voice sounded across the huge place in front of the Emerald Palace, "I have come here to confirm the numerous speculations and rumours, the innuendo and outuendo concerning the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. It is my great and high honour to confirm that once again good was to find victory over evil, that we conquered the cause of all the wickedness going on here over countless confusifying months and that there will never ever be any more disturberations in this beautiful land as long as I am in charge.

I, Glinda the Good, promise you..."

"Glinda!"

Gasping went through the crowd. Who dared to disrupt the mighty ruler of Oz?

The petite blonde woman looked startled for a second, then she raised an eyebrow, waiting for the disruptor to reveal himself.

A little man with graying hair and a wornout forest green jacket worked his way through the crowd, squeezing through until he stood face to face with the blonde witch.

"Exactly how dead is the Wicked Witch now? Do you have any proof of her decease? Maybe it is just another of her tricks, a spell perhaps?"

Glinda's gaze became cold for just a moment, before her features relaxed again, obtaining a serious expression.

"According to the Time Dragon Clock, the melting of the Wicked Witch occurred at the thirteenth hour, initiated by the throwing of a bucket of pure water.

We have to thank a certain little girl, Dorothy Gale is her name, for freeing us from this malicious villain and teaching us that being courageous, good-hearted and clever are virtues that the wicked will never be able to beat! Because being wicked is a one-way-ticket to being lonely and miserable! No one mourns the wicked once they're gone! It is a fact that..."

"Glinda!"

The little man tapped on her shoulder.

The gasping was louder than the last time. How dare he!

Glinda twisted her lips, slightly piqued by the man's unrespectful behaviour.

But then she put on her best smile again and directly faced the elderly man.

"Yes?"

"There is one more thing I wanted to ask you", he began, a daring look on his face.

"And that would be?", Glinda replied smiling, yet reserved.

"People have been talking about you", he proceeded, only to be interrupted himself this time.

"Oh, dear, people have been talking about me since I have been born, that's nothing new for me. I just seem to have that effect on people, you see?"

Unperturbed, the man finished his sentence, "about you and the Wicked Witch."

Another round of gasping. The Ozians hadn't expected Glinda's appearance to turn out like this. The witch's features hardened and she began twirling her glittering staff between her fingers.

"What have you heard about me and the Wicked Witch?"

"That you knew her! No, not only knew her, that you were her _friend_!"

The man had raised his voice, making sure everyone could understand him perfectly. This time the Ozians were too shocked to pick up the gasping again and remained deadly silent instead. All eyes were resting on the woman standing in their middle, her sparkling blue dress sticking out remarkably between all the green fabric.

She looked to the ground, a short moment of hurt shimmering across her face before she looked back up again, taking a deep breath before answering,

"Yes, I have been her friend, _however_", she added, before the gasping started again, "that strongly depends on what you understand as 'being friends'. It is true that we have known each other, a long, long, LONG time ago we went to school together. Not that I would have liked her very much, just to make that clear."

Nobody moved. They were still staring at their ruler expectantly, curious to know the backgrounds to this particular rumour.

"Alright, alright", Glinda huffed, "I will tell you.

But be warned, this is going to be a long story."


	2. Part I: Are People Born Wicked?

As many people can imagine, everyone has their little secrets. So did Elphaba Thropp, the girl that would later become known as the Wicked Witch of the West.

Although in her case it was not so much her own secret than the one of her mother.

Miss Elphaba Thropp happened to be the first born daughter of the governor of Munchkinland, who was away often, leaving his wife alone at home.

The woman had long forgotten that she once loved the governor and always awaited his being gone with anticipation.

There were several flings and affairs, but one was of particular importance for Miss Elphaba's story.

One night, just as the governor had left, a stranger knocked on the door, offering the governor's wife a misteriously coloured elixir and she was happy to welcome this wondrous diversification into her house.

And one can imagine, this little incident did not remain without consequences!

Several months later, a little girl was born.

The day was supposed to be the happiest in the governor's life, finally, they had been blessed with an heir for his position!

But as he saw his daughter for the very first time, he felt as if everything he had looked forward to had been shattered and destroyed in a single tick of the clock.

In shock he stared at the little being, that was so fragile, so innocent, feeling nothing but hatred welling up inside of him.

This couldn't be his daughter, it mustn't be his daughter!

This little baby right there had green skin.

No child of his could have green skin!

He couldn't imagine someone with green skin ruling over his land one day, no one would pay her respect if she looked like this!

It was a disgrace!

"Take this _thing_ out of my sight!"

"But governor, she is your daughter!"

"I said to take it AWAY!", he screamed at the midwife, who was cradling the cabbage coloured child in her arms.

From this day on, the very first that Elphaba experienced, her life was a struggle.

Wherever she went there was laughter and mockery, there wasn't a single person she could have called her friend.

Two years into her life her sister had been born, Nessarose, the only person that would ever show at least signs of sympathy towards her.

But Nessarose had her own weight to carry seeing as her legs refused to let her stand or walk, so she was bound to a wheelchair since she was little.

On the day Elphaba's family gained a member, it also lost one and the little girl stood quietly next to her mother's bed, watching her father cry and did not fully understand what exactly had happened.

It was also when she saw something peeking out under her mother's pillow and quickly, tiny green hands reached out for the curious object, a little glass bottle filled with a bright green liquid.

What could that have been?

Elphaba decided that it must have been something very important if her mother had kept it so close to her, even while sleeping, so from this moment on, Elphaba cherished and protected the bottle like it was a highly valuable treasure.

Elphaba was glad that her little sister was different from other children, too, that way they had each other to play with when nobody wanted to have something to do with the two of them.

The only difference was that their father adored Nessa, loved and spoiled her to no extent, treating her like a princess and abandoning his other daughter.

Elphaba was never able to quite grasp this concept but she, too, loved her sister very much and took good care of her while their father was gone.

During these times she often got very protective of her little sister and sometimes, when she became really mad, something strange happened.

Things would fall down, sometimes people would move in funny ways, as if they were dancing.

Elphaba's heart would beat faster, she hadn't wanted this to happen, hadn't wanted to frighten her sister who was then whailing in her little wheelchair and Elphaba would run into the house and hide inside the big wardrobe with the mirrored doors until someone would pull her out of it, forcing her to apologize for scaring her baby sister.

Elphaba had never had it easy.

The torment of getting stared and laughed at carried on no matter how well she behaved and how much she tried to befriend someone.

She always remained in her sister's shadow, although she was a smart girl, eager to learn and always caring for others that didn't have it easy.

But the constant repulsion by others caused her to become quiet and reserved, often whishing she was someone else.

By the time she was grown up she pretended not to care about the laughter and looks anymore, she started to make jokes about herself and developed a fine sense of sarcasm when it came to her odd skin colour.

And then, one evening, her father rushed into her room (without knocking, as he always did) and said in his usual, commanding tone, "You are going to University."


	3. Part II: Dear Old Shiz

"You mean...me?!"

Elphaba stared at her father in disbelief.

"Of course not you, your sister! But you are to accompany her and assist her and nothing else. Most of all, you are to remain quiet and you mustn't cause any of your little commotions! Your sister is the future governor of Munchkinland and it is of utmost importance that our family obtains a good reputation, do you understand that?"

"Yes", Elphaba mumbled, the short moment of elation blown out by her father's instructions.

Once again she would only be in the shadows, following her sister around.

Shiz University for law, logic, linguification and, occasionally rumoured, also sorcery, was an old established, ivy entwined building with many corners and niches, a number of windows in slightly crooked frames.

Elphaba's first thought upon seeing it, was that it looked like a friendly old grandfather, inviting children to sit on his lap so he could read them stories.

At least that was what the grandfathers in the books from her childhood had always done.

The huge front portal was standing wide open, students streaming in constantly.

There was no fix school uniform, every student was allowed to choose their own attire, as long as it consisted of white or blue, the school's colours.

So Elphaba had chosen an unflashy dark blue dress and jacket with a matching crochet cap to stick out as little as possible.

Of course she got the unwanted attention as soon as she stepped on the school ground.

People were turning their heads and started whispering as she passed them, pushing her sister's wheelchair in front of her.

Some of them even backed away with a frightened expression, but Elphaba kept approaching the door, pretending not to notice the staring.

"Alright, Nessa, I'm going to leave you out here and see if I can find out where our rooms are. Father should arrive every minute to say goodbye."

With that she grabbed her old battered suitcase, one of their servants had placed next to her as soon as she had stopped in front of the door.

Inside, the looks did not lessen, contempt or fear showing on many faces.

On the other side of the room stood a baggage cart with a ridiculous amount of white suitcases on top of it.

They all seemed to belong to a girl, dressed all in white as well, directing several boys carrying more suitcases around.

As she noisily chatted with some other girls nearby, the blonde locks peeking out under her white beret bounced up and down restlessly.

She was clearly a popular girl.

And when she turned around and discovered Elphaba, her stub nose scrunched in displeasure.

"What's that?", she mouthed at her newly-found friends, scanning the new arrival from head to toe.

Elphaba adjusted her glasses, tucked at her jacket and took a deep breath.

In secret she had hoped that all of this would be different at this school.

With a little shrug to herself she decided to just grin and bear it for now and went over to the judgmental bunch.

"Sorry, I couldn't help noticing that you're staring at me, do I have something in my teeth?"

With that, she bared her teeth at them and waited for a reaction.

Nothing.

Not even a laugh.

Good, then without the grinning part.

"Alright fine, let's get this over with.

_No_, I'm not seasick, _Yes_, I've always been green, _No_, I did not eat too much spinach when I was a child! And..."

"_ELPHABA_!", her father's harsh voice interrupted her little outbreak.

She whirled around, fuming.

"Oh, and this is my sister Nessarose, as you can see, she's a perfectly _normal_ colour!"

Her father had hurried over to her, grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her over to where her sister sat in her chair.

"Would you stop making such a _spectacle_ of yourself!", he hissed close to her ear.

"Do you remember what I told you?", he asked sternly.

"Yes", Elphaba mumbled, "I'm only here to take care of Nessa, I know. But-"

Before she could even say another word, her father had already turned his back on her.

"My precious little princess!", she heard him singsang to Nessa instead.

"Your first day at university, I am so proud of you!"

He waved the servant who had brought the suitcases nearer.

Now he was carrying a small wooden chest he handed to the governor.

"A small gift for you, my smart little girl."

He took a sparkling object out of the box and handed it to Nessa.

"Jeweled shoes! Father that wouldn't have been necessary!"

"The future governor of Munchkinland only gets what she deserves, my dear. Now, Elphaba", he declared, turning around to his other daughter again.

He still held the box in his hand.

Could it be that he had thought of her, too, for once and gotten her a present as well?

"Take good care of your sister and", he snapped, "try not to talk so much."

He shut the case and thrusted it into Elphaba's hands. Then he turned on his heels and left the school building.

Startled, Elphaba looked down at the wooden box into her hands, swallowing the pain of being overlooked as usual.

"Elphaba, I'm...sorry", she heard her sister's voice.

"Don't be", she smiled, "what could he possibly have gotten me? I clash with everything."

In that moment, a loud, piercing voice cut through the bustling noise in the entrance hall.

"Welcome, welcome, my dear new students!

My name is Madame Morrible and I am the headmistress of this wonderful University.

No matter what you decided to study, be it law, logic or languification, I am sure I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say we have the highest hopes for, well, most of you."

On the last words, her gaze had wandered to the blonde girl and her posse, much to Elphaba's amusement.

She went to push Nessa's wheelchair closer to the headmistress, shooing away some of the students in the way.

"Oh, you must be Miss Nessarose Thropp, the governor's daughter!"

Madame Morrible came closer to them, the heaps of fabric swaying graciously behind her.

She was short, almost a head shorter than Elphaba and, to phrase it respectfully, well covered.

Her hairstyle was bold, the mass of her platin-blonde hair was stacked up on her head to some kind of triangular sculpture - a work of art in its own way.

As the woman bent down to inspect Elphaba's sister further, the young girl became impatient and walked around the chair, building herself up behind the teacher, arms crossed.

"Oh Miss Nessarose, what a tragically beautiful face you have. Now tell me, who is here to take care of you?"

Now Elphaba had enough. She wasn't invisible, for Oz's sake!

Confident, she tapped the Madame's shoulder.

"I'm- aah!"

Madame Morrible backed away in shocked surprise.

Elphaba flinched a little at her scream but she made an effort to appear like she hadn't noticed it.

She forced a smile to her lips and introduced herself.

"I'm Elphaba, the other daughter. I'm...beautifully tragic", she added, but like everyone else at this school, the headmistress didn't seem to catch on to her humour either.

She only gave her a disconcerting look before she turned to Nessa again.

"I am sure you are very bright."

"Not bright, she's _phosphorescent_!", Elphaba heard the barely muffled comment by the impossible blonde girl.

The anger from before welling up inside her again, she wanted to lunge at this atrocious person but Nessa held her back by her arm.

She choked back her anger and stood quietly next to her sister.

"Now on to room assignments", the headmistress declared.

That was Elphaba's key word.

"Madame Morrible!"

The blonde girl again!

Elphaba couldn't help but roll her eyes. She looked forward to getting over with these room assignments so she wouldn't be forced to deal with this cow any longer.

"I have a question, Madame."

"Is it regarding room assignments?"

"No, thanks for asking but you see, I have made sure that I am assigned a private suite and..."

She was interrupted by collective gasping from the other students.

"Oh, but you are all invited to visit as often as you like!", she responded in such a pretentious tone that it almost made Elphaba nauseous.

"Oh Galinda, you're so kind."

"Oh, no, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Okay, I guess I am."

Elphaba had never seen someone as selfabsorbed as this Galinda girl.

What kind of name was that anyways?

"You had a question?", Madame Morrible asked, unimpressed.

"Yes, I had, you must know, I am Galinda Upland", she stated, making a dramatic pause to get a reaction. As nothing happened, she proceeded, "from the Upperuplands. I have applied to your sorcery seminar."

As this still didn't ring any of Madame Morrible's bells, she went on.

"You might recall my entrance essay, 'Magic Wands: Need They Have a Point?'"

"Oh, I do remember now", Madame Morrible said, not looking too enthusiastic, "however, I do not teach my seminar every semester, you must know. Only if there was someone with a special talent of sorts..."

"I know, that's why I..."

"Madame Morrible, we really need our room assignments now, we haven't received ours yet!", Elphaba cut off the blonde girl energetically. She couldn't listen to that senseless blabbering any longer.

"Oh, my dear, the governor has made it very clear to me that your sister's wellbeing is his highest concern, that's why I have decided to take her under my wing.

She will share my premises and I will make sure that she is well cared for."

"But, but I have always taken care of my sister."

"I am sorry, but he never mentioned you."

Elphaba felt that well-known anger rising inside her.

They wanted to take her sister away from her!

"I am sure, this is just a minor mess-up, not to fret, darling, we will find a place for you to stay."

Elphaba did not like the way the headmistress just put her off in such a condescending manner.

"But, Madame!", she cried out and went after her teacher.

Meanwhile, Galinda was not at all content with the way her introduction to Madame Morrible had panned out.

She wasn't used to such dismissive behaviour towards her.

Usually, the world lay to her feet after she just so much as batted an eyelid.

"I don't think she even read my essay", she grunted frustratedly.

"That is _so_ unfair!", a high-pitched male voice came from behind her.

She turned around to face a short boy with brown hair who nervously averted his eyes as she met his gaze.

"You...you should com-complain, I think", he stuttered, turning red in the process.

"Should I? Grizelda, Linette, what do you think?"

"Students, listen up! Who of you volunteers to share her room with Miss Elphaba here?"

"Madame Morrible!"

Oh, for Oz's sake, what did the blonde want now?

"I think you should..."

"Miss Galinda, how exceedingly curteous of you to share your _private suite_! You will be Miss Elphaba's roommate!"

"_What?!_", both of the girls exclaimed at the same time.

"No!"

"Madame!"

"I won't-"

"This can't be!"

Elphaba ran after the headmistress who now started pushing away Nessa's wheelchair.

"No, Madame Morrible, I want to take care of Nessa!"

"Elphaba, please!", her sister tried to calm her but Elphaba was outraged! There was no way she would live with this blonde bundle of joy in one room for the rest of her stay!

"You know that father said..."

"It's enough, Elphaba, I can take it from here", the headmistress repeated and wanted to leave the entrance hall.

"It's NOT enough, LET HER GO!"

Her heart beat so fast she felt as if it was close to bursting out of her chest. Her hands prickled and she felt as if something was tugging at her from inside.

Then her sister's wheelchair began moving. Madame Morrible backed away in surprise and watched as Nessa's chair moved across the floor until Elphaba got a hold of the handle.

Everyone in the room stared at her in shock.

Nessa clenched her fingers around the armrests of her chair and looked down.

"Elphaba, you promised this wouldn't happen again. Not here."

"This...this has happened before?", Madame Morrible spluttered, her eyes wide with astonishment.

Elphaba felt sick.

"I'm sorry. I- sometimes- Sometimes I can't control myself, something just comes over me and then...this happens, I apologize, it won't happen..."

"Never apologize for talent!", the headmistress cut her off.

"You, uh, talent?"

Elphaba was confused.

"My dear child", the Madame purred, laying an arm around Elphaba's shoulder.

"Have you ever thought about a career in sorcery?"


	4. Part III: The Wizard and I

"In...sorcery?", Elphaba echoed incredulously.

"Yes my dear, you have a special talent! And my special talent is encouraging talent, you see? I shall take no other students and you will receive private tutoring lessons."

"What?"

Galinda couldn't believe what she heard. After all the efforts she put into her essay!

And then this Elphaba person came in, looking as ridiculous as it gets and suddenly she was supposed to be something special? Something more special than _her? _

"I have waited_ years_ to find someone as gifted as you, Elphaba and you know what? I will write to the Wizard instantly, he has to know about you as quickly as possible."

"Wait, you mean_ the_ Wizard? The Wizard_ of Oz_?", Elphaba spluttered, heat rushing to her ears.

"Exactly, dearest_, the_ Wizard, now if you will excuse me, I will put up the letter immediately. Just do your best and I am sure he will gladly agree to an audience."

"But Madame Morrible!"

"Not now, Miss Upland."

She made a dismissing hand gesture towards Galinda, who suddenly looked very pale.

"This...is not going at all how I planned it", she mumbled, furrowing her brows and looking a little lost.

"Maybe I should go lie down for a bit", she continued murmuring to herself, shaking her head as if to get rid of an unwanted memory.

In the meantime, Elphaba was sitting on the foot of the large staircase leading to the classrooms, overwhelmed by the recent events.

For the first time _ever _no one had scolded her for the strange things she caused at times!

For the first time, someone had appreciated her and called her_ talented_!

It was surreal.

The Wizard of Oz. She was supposed to meet the Wizard of Oz.

Her big idol, the one person who could help her out of her misery!

He would see past her odd outward appearance and acknowledge her strengths, that she was sure of.

She would be his assistant and then, eventually they would form a team, the Wizard and her.

She got up and took out the map of the building. Her room was located in the east wing, apparently.

That was the opposite side of the building, seen from where she was now.

The halls had emptied once everyone had received the keys to their rooms and the evening sun fell through the large windows, tinting everything in a soft orange glow.

Humming, Elphaba passed door after door, playing out a long anticipated scenario in her head that involved the Wizard noticing how no one besides him was able to see past her green skin, labeling her strange and useless without even knowing her and then he'd offer her to change the colour of her skin, so she would be taken more seriously.

How wonderful this image was!

Finally they would appreciate her, like her_, celebrate_ her!

Suddenly she saw it right in front of her, she couldn't stop the picture developing inside her head.

Celebration. Happiness. Cheering.

She saw a large crowd, people dressed in their best clothes, music and dancing everywhere.

And she knew in her heart that their cheering addressed her, it was because of her that they celebrated, they were all happy_ because of her!_

This was everything she had ever dreamed of. And she would do everything to achieve this goal, she would give her very best in Madame Morrible's seminar and prove everybody wrong that didn't believe in her.

Her father. Even her sister. And she would show that wretched Galinda girl that she actually deserved all of this, because - as opposed to Galinda - Elphaba knew what hard work was and wasn't spoiled rotten.

Talking of Galinda.

Elphaba had arrived at her room. Her and Galinda's room.

Which Galinda had made very clear by putting up a large sign with her name in pink glitter letters on it.

Underneath that she had attached a sloppy piece of paper, dislplaying a hurriedly scribbled '& Elffapa'.

_Elffapa_. Really?


	5. Part IV: What Is This Feeling?

Without knocking, Elphaba yanked open the door, stomped inside the room and smacked the absolutely ridiculous fluffy sleeping mask right off her roommate's face.

"Don't even pretend to be asleep", she hissed, leaning close to Galinda's right ear.

"Are you responsible for this ri-di-cu-lous name tag on the door?", Elphaba demanded, stressing every syllable of the word that described Galinda the best.

_Ri-di-cu-lous. _

The blonde girl blinked just a little but pinched her eyes shut as soon as she got sight of Elphaba's furious expression.

The other girl didn't hesitate for a second and reached out to peg the blonde's nose with her fingers.

"I KNOW YOU'RE NOT SLEEPING", Elphaba yelled and finally, Galinda gave up and sat upright, shaking off Elphaba's ruthless grip on her nose.

"Have you lost your sensanity?!", Galinda protested, rubbing her nose in discomfort.

Elphaba had crossed her arms, impatiently padding her foot on the wooden floor tiles.

"I repeat it, if you want, have you put up this name tag on the door?"

"No need to make such a fuzzity fuss about this. How am I supposed to know how to spell your name.

'Ael-phar-bar', what kind of name is that anyways? Sounds like a deadly disease."

She was still holding her nose, a pained expression in her eyes.

"I think you broke it", she declared whinily.

Elphaba was on the brink of bursting.

"Oh, whiny whiny whine. What are you, twelve?!", she imitated Galinda's complaints and then let out a frustrated grunt.

"Ugh, I can't believe, I'm stuck with you!"

"Dito!", Galinda barked, putting her nose up and turning away from Elphaba.

The tension between the two did not cease over the following weeks and their constant bickering annoyed their fellow students to no end.

"Would you two knock it off already?", someone would interrupt yet another one of their endless arguments.

"I will knock it off as soon as this blonde-brained lunatic stops comparing me to vegetables!"

"Then stop calling me 'blonde-brained lunatic'!"

"But that's what you are! Blonde!"

"Well, I'm sorry, _salad-face_..."

"Your obnoxiously high-pitched voice robs my last nerve, could you stop squealing like that?!"

"When you stop wearing clothes that were out-dated last century!"

"I am _so_ sorry we can't all be spoiled rotten by 'Momsy and Popsicle'. Who calls their parents 'Momsy and Popsicle' anyways, how old are you? Five?"

Galinda gasped.

"Have you been reading my letters?"

Her voice almost cracked with outrage.

"No, but I couldn't help overhearing your nerve-racking voice reading it out to yourself as you had finished! We do share a room, in case you had forgotten!"

Elphaba stared at her loathsome roommate.

She had pretended not to hear the extraordinarily unflattering description of her Galinda had mumbled, reading out the letter to herself.

The only way to properly describe her roommate in her own letter to her father had infact been the word 'blonde'.

She blinked irritatedly as she saw the faint glint of a flush appear on Galinda's face.

Last night she had assumed that Galinda had intentionally read out the letter audibly so Elphaba couldn't help but overhear, but remembering the terribly misspelled version of her name on the door, she started to wonder if Galinda wasn't too good with words and spelling in general.

"How could I forget that, I have to try not to die of a heart attack every morning when I wake up in the same room like you!"

Every semblance of empathy that had appeared in Elphaba's mind was wiped away again instantly.

Of course, everyone agreed with Galinda when it came to picking sides in the argument, but that was no surprise to Elphaba.

Everytime she passed Galinda and one of her friends, they made sure she was able to hear them before they offered her commiserations about how awful it had to be, sharing a room with the spinach girl.

Galinda would humbly assure them that this surely was only a way to try her patience and would pay off in one way or another in the end.

Elphaba tried to make the best of the situation, occasionally taking advantage of the fact that Galinda seemed to fear her a little bit, after all.

So she would often lurk on Galinda's bedside in the morning, her face hovering over her roommate's until the clock struck the fifth hour.

"Wake up", she'd growl, causing Galinda to open her eyes and be nearly scared witless every time.

This way she had Galinda fuming mad at her right from the start of the day.

Pure loathing.

That described their relationship perfectly.

And it did not look like it would take a turn for the better anytime in the near future.


	6. Part V: Something Bad

Elphaba's favourite class was history with Doctor Dillamond.

Not only was he an excellent teacher - always interesting, always fair - he was also Shiz's only Animal professor, a Goat, to be exact.

The young woman felt a strong sympathy for the teacher as he stood out in his own way, he was different, like her.

They had just begun discussing the uprising suppression of Animals, how there were not many Animal professors left in Oz beside him and the overall frequency of Animals in any work position had decreased dramatically over the last years.

At the beginning of the lesson, he went around the class room and handed each student their essays back.

"I am thrilled to be able to announce that there has been a lot of improvement in these essays, although", he stated, then turned in Galinda's direction, _"some o_f you seem to value form over content after all. Miss G'linda, may I ask why you decided to write your essay in pink ink? It is rather hard to read, makes one's eyes hurt after a while."

Galinda's eyes narrowed.

"My name is_ Galinda_, sir, with a 'Ga'."

"Oh, I am very sorry, Miss G...linda", the professor replied, obviously having a hard time with the pronounciation of the syllable.

"I don't know what's so hard about it", Galinda remarked with an arrogant tone, "every_ other_ professor doesn't seem to have any problems with pronouncing it right."

This was enough for Elphaba.

"Maybe, Doctor Dillamond has more important things to do than perfecting the exact pronounciation of your oh-so-precious name! Just maybe, he might be a little different than other professors but has it ever occurred to your little blonde brain that _some _of us are just not like all the others?"

She was now standing, fists clenched as she got angrier and angrier by looking at Galinda's face that only displayed a smug grin.

"Looks like the_ artichoke _is steamed", she spat cattishly and caused the posse sitting close to errupt in spiteful laughter.

Elphaba looked down, embarrassed and steaming with anger as Doctor Dillamond's voice cut through the cackling.

"Enough, quiet now! Miss Elphaba has a good point. It is widely known that I am Shiz' sole Animal professor, the 'token goat' as you might want to call it. I often wish you had known how it was a long time ago, when there were Animals seen in the hallways of this venerable walls..."

He drifted off into his usual deliberations about the variety of species roaming the school's halls a long time ago and how a lot of things had changed since then.

"Can anyone tell me, what could be marked as the starting point of the riots?", he asked at the end of his little speech.

Elphaba's hand shot up in the air and she started talking before Doctor Dillamond could even say her name.

"If I remember right, it was during the great drought."

"This is correct, Miss Elphaba. The great drought caused declining profits in the agriculture and therefore, people became hungry and, as a result, angry.

And whenever people become angry, they need someone they can be angry_ at, _someone they can blame.

Can anyone explain what the word 'scapegoat' means?"

Elphaba's hand shot up immediately again.

"Maybe someone besides Miss Elphaba?"

To Elphaba's great surprise, Galinda raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss G'linda?"

"It is_ Ga-_linda, with a 'Ga'!", she said, stressing every word as if she was talking to a small child.

"And I can't see why you won't just teach us about history instead of just going on and on about the past!"

Doctor Dillamond blinked at the girl incredulously, but didn't comment on her snide remark.

"Maybe the questions I have prepared for you can be of assistance with..."

He was cut off by a loud gasp that went through the classroom as he turned the blackboard in the front.

As he realized what had been scribbled on it instead of his questions, he looked down, ashamed.

"Who did this?", he asked calmly, but his voice was cold now.

The classroom was so quiet one could have heard a needle drop.

"Class dismissed", the teacher murmured then.

"But professor...", Elphaba began, but Doctor Dillamond cut her off.

"I said, class dismissed!"

Hurriedly, the students began to stumble out of the classroom.

Elphaba was making her way to the door as well, pushing her sister's wheelchair but just before they exited the room, she turned around, looking at her teacher who sat discouragedly at his desk.

"Nessa, you go ahead alone, I'll be there in a clock-tick", she mumbled to her sister and then walked back into the room, towards the disheartened professor.

"Animals should be seen and not heard?", she read out the nasty scribbling from the blackboard.

"What is this even supposed to mean?"

"Oh, Miss Elphaba, don't worry, it's nothing. Really, no need to worry about me, I'll be fine, you go and join your friends."

Elphaba had to laugh.

"That's alright, I don't have any."

"Any what?"

"Any friends."

Elphaba made a shrugging-motion as Doctor Dillamond looked at her in surprise.

"Listen, professor, you mustn't let silly scribblings like this one get to you. I mean, I always let them get to _me, _but you really shouldn't.

Would you like to share my lunch?"

Elphaba pulled out a sandwich wrapped in paper.

"Oh, that is too kind of you, thanks plenty."

With that, the teacher took the paper from Elphaba's extended hand and started nibbling on it, not noticing his student's surprised expression.

They sat there eating in silence for a few moments before Doctor Dillamond put the paper wrapping down.

"It seems like I have lost my appetite.

You must understand, Miss Elphaba, things like this", he pointed to the blackboard, "aren't just bad jokes anymore. I hear of incidents like this on a daily basis by now. And the effects it has on the Animals' life!

So many colleagues of mine have lost their jobs in the last months and not only that, some of them are starting to lose the ability to speak!"

Elphaba looked up from her lunch, alerted.

"They can't speak anymore? But how is this possible?"

"I don't know, I fear. I can only sense that this is something_ baaaaaad!_ Oh my, excuse me! Something bad."

The young woman stared at the professor in shock.

"Doctor Dillamond? Is everything alright? Should I get you a glass of water maybe?"

She was trying to overplay the fact that her teacher had just made a noise typical of his animal equivalent.

"No, thank you, I think I am fine. Oh, Madame Morrible!"

Elphaba shot around.

The headmistress had entered the room without her noticing it.

"My dearest colleague, Doctor Dillamond, it has been reported to me that there has been some kind of /disturberance/ in you history class earlier, is this correct?"

Doctor Dillamond had hurriedly stepped over to the board to turn it back to the timeline on the front, hiding the rather obvious cause of said commotion.

"Yes, Madame Morrible, but the incident has already been cleared up, no need to further investigate in it."

"I am glad to hear that, professor. Now to you, Miss Elphaba, were you not supposed to be in_ my _classroom for the first lesson on sorcery a good ten minutes ago?", she asked the young woman with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, yes, of course, Madame, I am sorry, I'll be coming right away", Elphaba spluttered, embarrassed that she had missed the start of her very first lesson.

"I do hope so, Miss Thropp, sorcery is a serious topic and I only choose students I am sure I can _rely on_ and it would be a pity if you disappointed me. I'll expect you in my classroom at once! One cannot allow oneself to be so sloppy when one has ambitions that include meeting the Wizard, can't one?"

"Yes Madame."

Elphaba waited for Madame Morrible to leave the room, so she could turn back to Doctor Dillamond, an idea come to her mind.

"Doctor Dillamond, the Wizard has to know if there is something happening to the Animals, he is there to protect Oz and all its inhabitants! Nothing bad will happen if the Wizard is involved! I'd better go now, though."

"Oh, Miss Elphaba, I do hope you are right. I couldn't stand something _baaaaaad! _Ahem, something bad, happening to the animals. Have a nice day, Miss Elphaba!"

As the animal sound escaped the professor again, he had started to head to the door, looking confused and shaken and leaving his student remaining alone in the classroom.

As Elphaba made her way to Madame Morrible's sorcery tutorial, she thought about what had happened.

How hadn't she noticed yet what was going on in Oz?

But this surely wasn't anything the Wizard wouldn't be able to fix.


	7. Part VI: Dancing Through Life (1)

**A/N: Thanks for the lovely reviews, I'm always glad when people like my writing :) And I appreciate every review 3**

**I decided to end this part in the middle of Dancing Through Life so the chapter wouldn't get too long :)**

Rushing to finally get to Madame Morrible's classroom, Elphaba crossed the large curtilage with the large statue to cut the detour through the school's angled hallways.

A lot of students were scattered across the lawn, chatting, reading, having lunch on the grass patches or even taking naps on blankets.

But Elphaba didn't have time to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the lunch break. Mid-walking, she took out the book Madame Morrible had given to her, lengthily titled 'Introduction to Sorcery: Understanding the Basics and Exercising the Magic'.

She flipped it open and started scanning the foreword.

The next moment she heard a loud honking sound and barely escaped a bicycle racing towards her by leaping to the side, dropping the book in the process.

Heart pounding, she whirled around.

The bicycle pulled a small trailer that held a passenger, who was, to Elphaba's great outrage, peacefully slumbering.

"HEY!", she shouted and the cyclist turned around with an alarmed expression.

"Be quiet, you will wake him up!"

Elphaba couldn't believe what she heard. Furious, she walked closer to the vehicle.

"I don't care if he wakes up, you nearly knocked me over and he's sleeping like a baby?! Hey, you, wake up!"

She hammered at the side of the bike trailer which caused the young man in it to flinch and open his eyes.

"But Miss, don't you know who he is?", the driver mumbled angstily, worriedly glancing over to the man in the carriage who was slowly waking up and stretching.

"I wouldn't care if he was the Wizard of Oz himself, you can't just knock people over and not even react!"

She turned to the guy again, who was now fully awake and currently taking his sunglasses of.

"You, your driver is nearly running over innocent pedestrians and you are _sleeping?!"_

"Why yes, it is daytime after all."

Elphaba stared at him incredulously.

"Besides, we haven't actually hit anyone, haven't we?"

Without awaiting her response, he stood up and went to his driver.

"See you soon, Avaric, I'm quite sure I won't make it much longer here than at any other school I've been to."

What kind of ingnorant idiot was this bloke?

When his driver had left he was about to turn and leave Elphaba standing where she was.

Such an incredibly rude person!

"Hey! Don't you at least want to apologise?"

The young man turned back around.

"Well, I haven't _actually _run you over, right?"

"So you are just going through life, running people over and not even stopping to say sorry?"

Elphaba was fuming. The guy's generally disinterested attitude was making her feel similarly annoyed like Galinda's endless blabbering about the perfect outfit for meeting Fiyero Tiggular, some prince from the western part of Oz who was supposed to transfer to Shiz.

She hadn't stopped going on about how handsome he was and that his scandalous reputation preceeded him wherever he went.

The carriage guy looked Elphaba up and down and then said with a smirk, "I don't know, maybe my driver saw green and thought it meant 'Go'."

Elphaba's jaw dropped and she was unable to shoot anything witty back.

Instead she picked up the book from the ground and stormed off to her sorcery class.

Galinda was sitting in the grass of the curtilage during her lunch break, discussing the topic of the day with her girlfriends: Prince Fiyero Tiggular was to arrive at Shiz on this very day.

The prince from the Vinkus was widely known to have a past full of scandals which had almost always led to him transfering schools again.

Galinda didn't exactly know what kind of scandals this involved but she was intrigued by the mystery and couldn't wait to meet him. Besides, he was rumoured to be Oz' most handsome heir to the throne.

"He will finally bring some life into this grey old school, I tell you, from what I've heard he was kicked out of his old one for throwing a midnight party in the school's mensa that involved a lot of spiked punch and led to the complete defacement of the headmaster's portrait in the entrance hall. Isn't this just thrillifying?"

The other girls listened to her every word in anticipation, none of them knew particularly much about this new person, but no one doubted that Galinda wasn't a reliable source on the subject.

No one noticed the short boy in a striped suit approaching the group until he tapped Galinda on the shoulder.

"Miss Galinda?", he began shyly, once he had gotten the blonde's attention.

"I, uh", he cleared his throat and gestured to the group of girls sitting in the grass.

"Could I maybe talk to you in private? It'll be only a clock tick!", he spluttered and Galinda hesitantly followed the boy over to a tree, not far from her friends.

The boy cleared his throat again and Galinda tried to remember his name.

She did know him, he was often following her around, thinking she didn't notice, but she couldn't recall ever actually talking to him.

It was something short, like, Moq? No, Taq? That wasn't it either.

"Galinda, I, I know, I'm just a little Munchkin, but Munchkins have feelings, too, you know? And I, uh, I've been trying to tell you that I have feelings. For you."

Ah, now she remembered, the Munchkin! They _had _talked before, shortly, on the first day they had arrived at Shiz and she had been advised a room together with the green girl.

She tried to focus back on the conversation, half of it had already completely passed her by.

"And I just feel, like, sometimes I think you don't even know who I am!"

That was true. But Galinda Upland of the Upperuplands could never admit to something like that, she had to maintain a good reputation after all!

"That is _not _true, Biq!"

"My name is Boq!"

In that moment, Galinda spotted a young man in brightly coloured attire, looking around a little lost.

This could only be one person.

She got so excited she slapped the Munchkin's arm.

"Biq, do you realise who this is?!"

She didn't notice that the boy was staring at her hand clutching his arm, turning bright red in the process.

"This is Fiyero Tiggular, the Winkie prince! The one with the reputation_ so scandalacious _he is rumoured to have been disinherited by his parents for his subsequently bad behaviour! Although I highly doubt that, he is their only heir."

Galinda had long forgotten what the Munchkin boy had wanted to tell her and stepped away from the tree, tossing her hair into place and putting on her brightest smile.

"Hello! May I help you? Are you looking for something?"

And then she added, with her best flirtatious wink, "Or_ someone_?"

He raised his eyebrows and then grinned at her.

"Well I _was s_earching for some history class, somewhere, but..."

He was interupted by the Munchkin, who placed himself right between the two of them, demonstratively pointing to the far end of the lawn.

"The history building is over there!", he grunted and straightened his shoulders, not really making up for the significant height difference between him and Fiyero.

"But the class already ended!", Galinda threw in before Fiyero even got ready to leave.

Then she simply walked around the Munchkinboy, took Fiyero's hand and dragged him away.

"Come on, I'll show you around!"

Fiyero chuckled and obediently followed her across the lawn.

Looking around at the surrounding buildings, Fiyero started a conversation.

"So, what do you people do for fun around here?"

"Nothing really", Galinda sighed but then looked at him mischieviously.

"Until now, that is."

Once again, they were interrupted by Boq.

"We've been studying, you know?"

Fiyero raised his eyebrows again, but this time in a slightly disgusted manner.

"Really? Well, seems like it's once again my responsibility to stop my fellow students from thinking so much."

He playfully put his arms on Galinda and Boq's shoulders.

"You know, the really important stuff, what actually matters in life, isn't even taught in school."

"How do you mean that?", Boq asked sceptically.

"Simple. If you think so much about everything, where is the time to have fun? To_ live_? Of what use is all that knowledge, all this brain-wrecking and, ugh,_ studying,_ when you don't even know how great it feels to dance until dawn and flirt with a pretty girl? How relaxed everything is if you don't worry about anything? I call it 'dancing through life'. You should really try it, this school looks awfully dull to me.

Tell me, where do you go to celebrate?"

"There's the Ozdust Ballroom, a place in town that's pretty /swankified/", Galinda offered.

"But what would we happen to celebrate?"

Fiyero laughed.

"Life of course!"

Then he pulled back his arms and walked over to the Wizard's statue in the middle of the square.

Galinda and Boq watched him quite stunned as he climbed the socket, put his hands around his mouth and announced, "Listen up, folks! Tonight there will be a party at the Ozdust Ballroom!"

Everywhere, students turned their heads to see who was disturbing them but as they discovered who the speaker was, their faces lit up.

"Everyone is welcome, it's a party to celebrate life itself! Don't expect it to end early!"

Swiftly, he jumped off the socket and returned to Galinda and Boq, a broad grin spread across his face.

"Time to wake this place up!", he announced proudly and walked up front, leaving the two shorter people struggling to keep track with him.

"Miss Galinda", Boq adressed the blonde again.

"I really hope you'll save a dance for my tonight. I'm going to be waiting for it all night if I have to."

Galinda forced herself to smile, albeit she could barely imagine something worse than a running metre creeping up on her and Fiyero all night.

"Oh, Biq, that is really kind of you!"

"Boq."

"What? Well anyways..."

Galinda's voice trailed off as she spotted the governour's daughter sitting nearby in her wheelchair, reading a book.

An idea sprung to her mind and she turned back to the Munchkin with newly found enthusiasm.

"Biq, you know what would be_ even kinder_?! Look, there is Nessarose Thropp, over there, in the wheelchair.

Oh, isn't she just so t_ragically beautiful_? Yes, I know, right? So, I would feel so sorry for her if she couldn't come to the party tonight because no one asked her while we're having heaps of fun there."

Boq was nodding eagerly, desperately wanting to agree with everything Galinda said.

"And I think, someone should ask her out for tonight. I know I'd be so pleased if I was her and the person to do this would be some kind of hero to me! Thinking about it, I don't even have to be her for that person to be a hero, it would just be so _nice..."_

"I, I could ask her out!"

The Munchkin boy painfully reminded Galinda of a little puppy that needed her constant approvement for everything.

"You would really do that for me? Wow, Biq, that's a very honourable thing to do!"

Delighted, Boq wandered off to where Nessarose was sitting and gently tapped her arm.

"Hello Miss Nessarose, I have to ask you something important..."

Galinda turned around to face Fiyero who had stopped to watch the previous scene in amazement.

"He's clingy", he noted with an irritated frown and then continued, more lightly, "but you're good!"

Galinda fluttered her eyelashes and replied, sugary sweet, "I haven't got the faintest idea what you mean. Mind you, now it doesn't seem like_ I _have a date for tonight yet, so..."

Fiyero caught right on to her advances.

"I'll be picking you up around eight?"

"Seems like we speak each other's languages", Galinda replied confidently and linked arms with the prince.

"I think we're fitting together rather perfectly, don't you think, too?", she continued playfully flirting with Fiyero and he replied, just as playfully, "Seems like we're born to be together, if you ask me."

Then the beaming Galinda escorted him inside the school to show him where to find the dormitories.

Elphaba was sitting in her room, sceptically studying the exercises Madame Morrible had given her to practise, along with a telescopic training wand that now sat on the desk in front of her.

She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Yes?"

The door swung open and Nessa wheeled herself into the room.

"Elphaba! Have you heard, Fiyero invited everyone to a party tonight!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes and moaned contemptously.

"Typical. The moment this selfabsorbed would-be nobleman breezes in here, everyone immediatley falls to his feet and goes to some cultish social gathering to worship him."

"Even me!", Nessa announced happily and made her sister's jaw drop.

"What?!"

"Yes, Galinda set me up with this Munchkin boy named Boq and I really think he likes me and now I just wondered if you might have any idea what I could do to thank her, with you being her roommate and..."

"Wait,_ Galinda _set you up?", Elphaba interrupted her sister in surprise.

"Yes. Boq was too shy to ask but she_ encouragerised_ him and... she's actually quite nice, you know? Oh please, Elphaba, let me go to that party. It's the first time people include me in things like that! Please understand!"

Elphaba's expression remained hard. She didn't trust Galinda and especially not her sudden outburst of care for Nessa. And her sister even started to pick up that ridiculous Emerald City slang that both Galinda and Madame Morrible spoke in.

But she had never been able to resist Nessa's pleading look.

"Alright, fine, I'll think of something for Galinda, if it means so much to you."

"Oh, thanks, Elphaba, you are the best! I knew you'd understand."

Beaming, Nessa rolled a bit closer and then added, slightly more hesistant, "Are you- coming to the party as well?"

"I, uh, don't know yet", Elphaba replied, although she was pretty sure she would rather set herself on fire than humiliate herself by showing up at the party alone. The only experience she had had concerning festivities so far, had been her mother's funeral, almost seventeen years ago.

"Okay then, I guess I'll see you on Monday in class then."

"Yes, sure."

"And don't forget to think of something for Galinda!", Nessa called over her shoulder as she wheeled out of the door again.

Elphaba remained at her desk, bewildered.

There rarely hadn't been a day in her life she didn't spend with Nessa, but since they had arrived at Shiz and Nessa had gained a certain degree of popularity, she often went her own way now and Elphaba asked herself more than once why their father had thought that Nessa would need her constant assistance.

But on the other hand, it had brought her here, to this school, where she finally had the chance to make something of herself!

In another room, close by, Galinda and her friends were already preparing for the party.

They had already done their nails, hair and make up and were currently putting on their dresses and accessories.

"Now there's only one thing missing", Grizelda announced and Galinda gave her a knowing smile.

"Exactly, the finishing touch!", she exclaimed triumphantly and pulled a pink rose slide out of a small case.

Meanwhile, Linette had curiously wandered over to inspect the hatbox Galinda had brought with her and deposited on Grizelda's bed.

She opened it and a horrified experession started spreading across her face.

"Galinda, what in Oz' name is_ that_?!"

She picked the hat up gingerly and held it as far away as possible, as she crossed the room to get an explanation from Galinda.

"Oh that. I thought, this time my granny might have sent something one could actually wear, but as always, she sent me one of the most hideodeous hats in existence. You weren't even supposed to see that! I'd give it away but to whom? I don't hate anyone /that/ much", Galinda put her friend off, taking the hat in her hands to inspect it further.

It had some kind of embroidered pattern on it, similar to a reptile's skin, some small blooms were sewn to the side and the brim was pinned up on the other side.

It was admittedly one of the ugliest exemplars her grandmother had sent to her yet.

"Oh yes, you do!", Grizelda interrupted her thoughts on the terrible piece of clothing.

"I do?"

Galinda frowned. Who did she hate that much that she.../Elphaba/! Of course!

"I do! Should I really?"

She contemplated exactly how much she would humiliate her obnoxious roommate by giving the hat to her.

But then she remembered how Elphaba always seemed to belittle and mock her and didn't feel as bad about the idea anymore.

So when Elphaba appeared on the doorsteps of the room several moments later, Galinda put on her best smile.

"Listen, Galinda, Nessa and I were just talking about you and I..."

"What a coincidence! We were just talking about you, too!"

"You were?"

Elphaba suspiciously glanced into the room.

"Why, of course! We all agreed that you really should wear this hat to the party tonight. It suits you, you know? It's black, this year's new in-colour and it is so _smart, _so it's perfect for you! Here, take it, I give it to you!"

With that, Galinda shoved the hat into Elphaba's hands and closed the door in front of her.

Elphaba returned to her room, stunned and a little irritated by so much kindness on Galinda's side.

Wasn't she that bad after all?

Sceptically, she stared down at the hat in her hands.

Galinda was right, the hat did suit her, except for the flowers on the side maybe. She just wasn't the floral type.

She eventually decided to give the whole fuzz about this party a try.

She couldn't do more than make a complete fool out of herself couldn't she? And since nobody liked her anyways, she had nothing to lose.

But before she started to get ready, she payed Madame Morrible another visit.

"Madame, I'd like to talk to you about something, concerning the sorcery tutorial."

"You don't want to drop out, my dear do you? It would be such a shame!"

"Well, you see", Elphaba started to explain, "it seems like I can only continue under one condition.

Please include Galinda Upland in this class."

"What?!"

"I'm in a sort of debt to her and since she was the one interested in the tutorial in the first place I think it's only right to ask you this."

"But, Miss Thropp, Miss Upland couldn't tell a twig from a wand, how am I supposed to teach her the high art of sorcery?!"

"With all due respect, Madame, it is not my problem, how exactly you will accomplish it but I have to withdraw immediateley if you don't accept my plea."

Elphaba's heart pounded. It was bold of her to outright demand something like this from the headmistress but it was the only thing Elphaba could think of that would make Galinda happy.

"Fine, Miss Thropp, I will take it in contempleration, but to your information, I do not have the highest opinion of Miss Upland."

"Thank you very much, Madame Morrible."

Elphaba left the headmistress' office with a smile on her face.

She had returned Galinda's favours and maybe, just maybe this would lead to the two of them getting along just a little bit better.

Maybe, Galinda wasn't that bad after all.


	8. Part VII: Dancing Through Life (2)

A couple of hours later, the party at the Ozdust Ballroom was in full swing.

The large room was bursting with Shiz students, all dressed up to the nines, dancing, chatting, drinking punch and enjoying themselves.

Fiyero and Galinda arrived fashionably late, of course, and all eyes were on the pair when they entered the room.

Especially the girls gave Galinda envious glances which she enjoyed immensely.

A smug smile graced her face as she crossed the room on Fiyero's arm, her fuchsia coloured dress standing out in the crowd.

Yes, this dress had been the best decision for this occasion.

Another person was looking over longingly to the pair, a short boy standing next to a girl in a wheelchair.

Boq had done as Galinda had told him to and had invited Nessarose to the party.

Of course, the young girl had been beyond thrilled and Boq had felt a slight pang of guilt for not being entirely honest with her.

And so far, the two of them hadn't said much to each other yet.

"What's in the punch?", Nessa made another desperate try to spark up a conversation.

"Lemons and melons and pears", Boq replied absentmindedly, while still closely observing Galinda and Fiyero who were now dancing nearby, entangled in each other's arms.

"Oh my!", Nessa exclaimed unenthusiastically and looked down into her glass.

This date wasn't really going like she had imagined.

"Listen, Nessa, I have to tell you something", Boq started.

"Yes?", she eagerly shot back, thrilled that he tried to engage in conversation all of a sudden.

Boq seemed to struggle to get his words out and his guilty look started to raise Nessa's suspicion.

Would this evening end like so many in her life?

"Look, I, uh, have to confess something", the short boy stammered, really looking sorry now.

"The reason I asked you out..."

"I know", Nessarose interrupted him, bitterly acknowledging that her suspicion would prove to be justified.

"You only felt you _had _to ask me out. Because I'm in a wheelchair and you didn't want me to go alone. You felt sorry for me, am I right?"

Boq's gaze wandered to a spot near his feet, guilt creeping up inside of him.

He hadn't thought of the consequences enough. He hadn't thought that his little favour for Galinda might hurt someone else's feelings. And on top of it all, she was the daughter of the man who reigned over his home country, not to think of what would happen if he found out that it was a Munchkin who broke his little girl's heart!

He cleared his throat.

"No", he blurted out and made Nessa turn to him again, a hopeful shimmer in her eyes.

"No, uhm, it's, just, it was, because, uhm, you, well, you are, you know, very, uhm beautiful. Yes, that's the reason I asked you out."

Nessa, who of course mistook Boq's desperate stammering as shyness, lit up in excitement.

"Oh, Boq, is that really true? That is so lovely! I_ knew_ we were destined to be with each other! I doubted it for a minute right now but can't you see it too?"

"I, uhm", Boq broke off, looking around for Galinda and Fiyero, who were now standing in the far corner of the room, kissing.

Determined not to give up just yet, he grasped the handles of Nessa's wheelchair.

"You know what? Let's dance!"

Nessa seemed confused.

"You mean...what?"

"I said, let's dance!"

And with that he whirled the girl in the chair around, quickly pushed her to the center of the room and started to dance around her, then and now including the wheelchair in his little choreography, while Nessa enthusiastically moved her arms to the music.

Boq did make sure, though, that he caught Galinda's attention and whenever her gaze wandered over to the couple, he gave her a broad smile.

She should see that he was her hero, the boy who asked out the tragically beautiful girl.

But Galinda returned his smiles only halfheartedly, before turning back to Fiyero.

Suddenly, Galinda was disturbed by a tap on the shoulder.

Immediately, she let go of Fiyero and turned to face Madame Morrible.

"Good evening, Miss Upland."

"Hello, Madame Morrible, what are you doing here?", Galinda replied, confused as to what she might have done that the headmistress went through the troubles of maneuvering through a hoard of partying students in a crowded ballroom.

With a somewhat sour expression, the headmistress pulled a long thin object out of the depths of her garments and held it out to Galinda.

"I have something for you", she said through gritted teeth, not hiding the fact that all about this moment was very displeasant to her.

Galinda couldn't believe her eyes.

"But, this is a training wand! I thought you didn't include more than one student in your tutorial! How can I express my gratitution for this?!"

"Oh, this was certainly not my idea! It was your roomate's request to include you into sorcery class, much to my disapproval, of course, but she threatened to leave class if I didn't include you in it instantly. She also insisted on telling you this very night, which is why I had to come _here_."

She gestured at the crowd of dancing students and scrunched her nose in a disgusted manner.

"This...was Elphaba's idea?"

"Yes, Miss Upland, I thought I had made that quite clear. Sorcery class will take place every day at the sixth hour, _be on time!_"

Madame Morrible started to walk away, but Galinda quickly followed her.

"But, why did she do this?"

"I have absolutely no idea, Miss Upland. My personal opinion is that you do not have what it takes, maybe you'll prove me wrong..."

She looked Galinda up and down, struggling to bite back a laugh.

"...but I doubt you will."

With that, she left Galinda standing alone and exited the room.

A strange feeling started spreading in Galinda's chest, she couldn't really name it, as she had never actually felt it before.

Fiyero was by her side again as soon as the headmistress had left and worriedly observed the miserable expression on her face.

"Is everything alright?"

Galinda looked up and gave him a faint smile.

"Yes, I, I got what I wanted, but..."

"Then what's the matter?"

Now Galinda's smile was a bit more convincing.

"Nothing, really."

"Alright, then let's dance again!", Fiyero commanded and swirled Galinda back into his arms.

Meanwhile, a few yards away from the Ozdust Ballroom, Elphaba was contemplating if going to the party had been the right decision.

She didn't really know how to dress for occasions like this and she wasn't entirely sure if what she considered dancing was, in fact, considered dancing by other people, as she had only ever done it by herself - if she had done it at all.

She had spent the whole time after her short visit to Madame Morrible's office with trying to decide what she could wear, an activity so unlike her usual habits that she felt almost overwhelmed.

Ultimately she had decided to just wear one of her simple dark green everyday dresses due to the lack of any more suitable attire.

She wasn't too sure about her choice in shoes, as her brown boots had seemed to be a bit too clunky to wear under a dress but it wasn't really warm outside and she didn't want to get a cold on the rather long way downtown to the Ballroom.

She had spent a long time to decide on a hairstyle and had then ended up plaiting her sleek black hair into a long thick braid that fell down her back.

She had topped it with the hat that Galinda had given to her.

For the first time she had looked at herself in the mirror and hadn't been instantly repelled by her own appearance.

She had adjusted her glasses, grabbed a jacket and gone out of the room before she could have changed her mind about going.

Now she wasn't so sure anymore.

A few steps away from the Ballroom, she nearly bumped into Madame Morrible who was hastily stomping in the other direction, back towards Shiz.

"Miss Elphaba", the teacher huffed, obviously still angered about having to come all the way downtown to deliver such a pointless message to this atrociously annoying student.

"I have done what you asked me, although I still can't seem to get behind your reasons for wanting to include Galinda Upland of all people into this class! I cannot see _any _point..."

"Madame Morrible", Elphaba calmly interrupted the headmistress, "I am simply returning a favour."

Madame Morrible wasn't used to a student contradicting her so much and every other student would have had their fair share of being turned in to a toad for several hours, but this particular girl had to be kept happy at any price.

She had a talent that could prove itself to be even bigger than estimated at the beginning.

The headmistress pinched her lips together and looked directly into Elphaba's eyes.

"Know however, Miss Thropp, that if Miss Upland ceases to obey my instructions or fails to follow the rules it is your responsibiliation!"

"Yes, Madame", Elphaba replied just as calmly as she spoke before although she was now slightly nervous.

She didn't know if she could guarantee for anything when it came to the quirky blonde.

"Well then, Miss Elphaba, have fun at the - /party/."

She spat the last word as if it was

something disgusting and then continued her walk back to the University.

Elphaba completed the last bit of the way and made halt in front of the big entrance doors of the Ozdust Ballroom.

This would be it.

Her first real party.

She took a deep breath and opened the door.

When the green girl stepped on the dancefloor, the Shiz students stared at her in a kind of naked spite, openly pointing and laughing at her, whispering to each other as she passed through their rows.

The music had stopped as the first round of gasps had carried through the room and Elphaba had ripped the black pointed hat from her head.

With a start, Galinda had let go of Fiyero and was now observing her roommate walking towards the centre of the dancefloor, defying all the hateful looks and laughter with her head held high.

In the middle of the dancefloor she demonstratively put the hat back on her head and glared at Galinda, realising she had become the victim of the blonde's nasty scheme.

Galinda discovered the hurt in the other girl's nagging stare and the strange feeling started to occupy her heart again.

She reckognised it now.

It was guilt.

Plain, gnawing guilt.


	9. Part VIII: Popular (1)

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, I've been rather busy with school!**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, always enjoying the lovley notes :)**

* * *

The room was so quiet one would have been able to hear a needle drop.

All eyes were resting on the girl in the middle of the dance floor who had her lips pinched into a thin line, avoiding to make eye contact with anyone.

Elphaba's heart was pounding.

What had she been thinking?! It was so unlike her to get drawn into things like this and there was a reason for that.

No matter where she went people were always laughing at her.

No, she wasn't like other people.

No, she wasn't pretty or popular or _normal _for that matter, whatever that meant, but she couldn't understand the constant resentment she got from all sides, even her own family members.

She just wanted to belong, to fit in somewhere.

And this time she wouldn't just give in, run away and hide again. This time would be different.

Her dancing surely wasn't top notch but she could at least try.

Elphaba started to move her arms and slightly bounce her legs, eliciting more laughter from the observing crowd.

Every fibre of her body stung with embarrassment and the desire to exit this room but she couldn't give them the satisfaction of it.

She felt tears pounding to escape her eyes and a big lump in her throat but bursting into tears in front of all those people was not an option either.

So she just carried on with her dance, feeling terribly out of place and wishing for this nightmare to stop.

Galinda was still standing next to Fiyero, biting her lip as she observed her roommate's gawky attempts to dance.

She felt horrible.

"Well, I'll say this much for her, she doesn't give a twig about what everyone else thinks", she suddenly heard Fiyero say into her ear.

Obviously he hadn't seen the hurt Galinda had caught a glimpse of beneath Elphaba's icy stare.

"Of course she does, Fiyero! Oh, I feel terrible!"

"Why? It's not like it's your fault or anything."

Galinda flinched at his words and she turned away from him.

"Excuse me, please."

"What, wait, what are you gonna do?"

But the blonde didn't answer. Instead she made her way over to where Elphaba was still trying to make whatever she was doing look like dancing and tapped on her roommate's shoulder.

"M...may I - cut in?", she mumbled, her face flushing from the shame she felt.

Elphaba had gone on her nerves but she had done nothing to deserve being treated like this.

Now that she was closer to the other girl she thought she could see the shimmering of tears in her eyes but maybe this was only the light reflecting in Elphaba's glasses.

Without a word Elphaba stopped her quirky movements, pointed to the space in front of her as if saying 'Here, the center of attention is all yours again' and crossed her arms, sceptically awaiting Galinda's next action.

She was surprised to discover that the blonde girl started to imitate her 'dance', awkwardly waving her arms and bouncing her knees. The apologetic smile on her face appeased Elphaba's disappointment - her roommate seemed to be genuinely sorry.

She watched as Galinda danced on, transforming Elphaba's clumsy trampling into a slightly more elegant routine, including more steps and a turn.

Grizelda and Linette were standing not far from them, throwing depreciatory glances at the scene unrolling in front of them.

Their friend and leader bonding with the greenie? That was not something Galinda was going get away with so easily.

As she caught their contemptous glares, she stopped dancing for a moment, locking eyes with her friends.

Her pleading look didn't help, their stare remained cold and Galinda knew she would have to make a decision.

She slowly backed away and with the slightest implication of a shrug she turned around and smiled at Elphaba who still looked very confused.

Galinda owed her roommate that much.

She didn't know if she would be able to make up for all that she had done to Elphaba, but she knew that sticking to her now would at least be a start.

The two girls continued dancing and to Elphaba's great surprise she soon noticed that the rest of the people weren't laughing or staring anymore, but had picked up Galinda's steps as well.

The band had resumed playing and everybody was dancing around the pair of girls in the middle.

Elphaba couldn't help but smile.

For this feeling alone Galinda deserved a second chance.

On the way home, the two girls walked together in silence, neither of them knowing what to say.

Grizelda and Linette hadn't so much as looked at Galinda since the little incident on the dancefloor and Fiyero had taken off with some new friends he had made at the party, leaving the two roommates to themselves.

Elphaba was used to staying silent, but Galinda dreaded the seemingly endless pause in the conversation but she just couldn't find a topic to talk about with Elphaba, she was just so _different _from her!

As they arrived in their room, both girls started talking at the same time.

"Thank you."

Both were startled for second and then burst into laughter.

"This whole night is simply strange", Elphaba mused, taking off her hat and placing it on her bed.

"You think so?", Galinda replied with a little laugh and sat on her own bed, her legs dangling.

"Although I'd love to know what you thanked me for", Elphaba asked, sitting down next to her hat.

"I don't know", Galinda admitted, "maybe for, uhm, not being angry at me because of the hat thing."

Her voiced had become small and she was biting her lower lip, softening Elphaba's heart.

"I don't think it's necessary to hold a grudge. They would have laughed at me no matter what was on my head."

She peered at the black headpiece on her left and smiled.

"I actually still like it. It made my first party special somehow. That's why I thanked you, by the way, for making this night..."

"Your first party", Galinda interrupted her.

"Your first party..._ever_?!"

"Do funerals count?", Elphaba replied drily and shifted around on her bed, getting increasingly intimidated by Galinda's suddenly very eager looking face.

"But this is so exciting! Your very first party! Oh, I know, I know, we should celebrate this!"

"Uh, what do you have in mind?", Elphaba asked alarmed.

"We should tell each other", Galinda began, stressing every word with rising anticipation, "something we have never ever told anyone! I'll go first!"

She bounced off her bed, hopped over to Elphaba's and buried her face in the pillows.

Elphaba watched her in amazement, witnessing just how bubbly Galinda actually was up close for the first time.

After an adequately long dramatic pause, Galinda's face reappeared and with big eyes she announced, "Fiyero and I are going to be married!", followed by a squeal that made Elphaba's ears ring.

"He's asked you already?!", she almost shouted, looking at her roommate incredulously.

This relationship had taken off much faster than she had expected. She would have given them at least two weeks until one of them had proposed!

"No, he doesn't know yet", Galinda admitted nonchalantly, which made Elphaba laugh.

"I see."

"Now it's your turn, tell me a secret!", the blonde girl demanded, impatiently bouncing up and down on Elphaba's bed.

"Like what?"

"Like..."

Galinda had stopped bouncing and moved closer to the upper half of the bed.

"...why you sleep with this funny little bottle under your pillow!"

Swiftly, she snagged the glass flask from under the bedding and held it as far away from Elphaba as possible, as she instantly tried to grab it.

"Give that back!", Elphaba shouted with a hint of desperation and tried to rescue her most treasured belonging from the giggling and squirming Galinda who tried to get a closer look at the curious object.

"Galinda, give that back _now_!", Elphaba yelled angrily and as the blonde noticed how upset her roommate was getting, she finally gave in.

When she handed the bottle back, Elphaba averted her eyes and quietly mumbled, "It belonged to my mother, you know?"

There was a moment of silence.

"My father hates me."

Galinda gasped.

"That's not the secret", Elphaba clarified with an eyeroll.

Yet another proof that Galinda payed no attention to her surroundings whatsoever.

Everyone knew that the governor hated her.

"The secret is", Elphaba continued hesitantly, "that he has every right to."

"But -"

"It's my fault. That my sister is...well, the way she is."

She didn't want to let Galinda interrupt her.

She was the first person Elphaba had ever told this secret and she didn't want to regret this decision.

"See, when my mother was carrying Nessa, father was worried she might come out - _green_ - and he made my mother chew milkflowers, day and night.

Only that made Nessa come to soon and my mother - never woke up.

If it wasn't for me..."

"Nonsense!", Galinda finally interrupted.

She had listened to Elphaba's story calmly - something Galinda certainly wasn't very good at - but now she just needed to interfere.

"How is this your fault?"

"My mother wouldn't have had to chew milkflowers if I hadn't been green."

"But that is not your fault! Just because this is your secret doesn't mean that it's true!"

Both of the girls were silent again.

Elphaba thought about what Galinda had said.

Everybody had always blamed her and eventually she had just accepted it as a given fact that she was responsible for her mother's death.

All of a sudden the blonde jumped up from the bed and pointed at the window.

"Look! It's tomorrow!"

And really, as Elphaba looked outside she could see the faint reddish glow of the sunrise on the horizon.

She, Elphaba Thropp, had stayed up until the break of dawn?

This surely was something entirely new to her.

"Elphie, I've decided to make you my new project."

"Elphie?"

"Oh, is it alright if I call you that? I think it's very sweet."

"_Sweet_?"

"Don't you like it?"

"It's a little perky."

"You can call me..."

She thought about any suiting nicknames for herself but didn't quite seem to find one that quickly.

"...Galinda", she ended unspectecularly, which made Elphaba smile.

"You really don't have to do that by the way."

Galinda looked at her blankly.

"Do what?"

"Make me your project, whatever that means."

"Oh, but I'd _love_ to! That's what I'm good at! You have so much _potential_, Elphie!"

Elphaba looked at Galinda sceptically.

But Galinda just carried on.

"I'm going to teach you everything there is to know about popularity since I'm obviously the most popular person around here, I'm sure you've noticed."

Elphaba was already starting to regret her decision to try and befriend her peculiar roommate.

"You are so humble!", she said mockingly, but Galinda didn't listen.

"First thing tomorrow...er, _today_, we're going shopping and to the hair salon and I'll teach you everything you have to know - how to spark up a conversation, how to get a good reputation and how to flirt with boys!"

Galinda was almost screaming by now and Elphaba was starting to feel a little afraid of what she had embarked on.

"I'm not sure..."

"Oh and you _have_ to try this lipstick!"

Without any further warning she smudged the bright pink lipstick on Elphaba's lips, then took a good look at her and started to undo the long braid that fell down Elphaba's back, leaving her thick black hair in subtle waves.

"Oh, and this needs to go away as well", she sputtered and took the pair of glasses off the other girl's nose.

Elphaba blinked a couple of times, now having to squint her eyes to be able to see sharply.

"Whew, this might be a little harder than I thought", Galinda stated as she observed Elphaba.

"What's that supposed to mean now?"

"Do not worry, I'll help you, Elphie", Galinda went on cheerfully, "it's all about how people see you, not about knowledge or intelligence."

"Well, obviously", Elphaba mumbled sarcastically.

"Take the world's most famous leaders for example, do you think they were elected because they were smart or skillfull, _please_, all they did was gain enough popularity and renown so people would think they were smart and skillfull!"

Elphaba stared at her roommate in disbelief.

But Galinda couldn't be stopped.

"Okay, first things first, I'll show you how to toss your hair. Follow me. Toss, toss!"

Galinda threw her hair back over her shoulders with an elegant movement of her neck and displayed her sweetest smile, her head tilted to the side ever so slightly.

When Elphaba tried, her outcome was neither elegant nor sweet.

She nearly threw out her neck trying to maneuver her long and heavy hair behind her shoulders and her smile turned out rather crooked.

"This is never going to work", she huffed frustrated which made Galinda scurry over to her immediately.

"You mustn't think that way anymore! Your life is going to change from now on! You'll just practise the tossing.

Now I have another idea."

Elphaba feared the worst.

"I am going to transform your simple frock into a terrificacious ballgown! Step over here please."

She pointed the training wand she had gotten from Madame Morrible at Elphaba and called out in a demanding tone.

"Ballgown!"

Nothing happened.

She pointed again.

"I said, BALLGOWN!", she shouted, making Elphaba jump back a few feet.

Galinda inspected the wand carefully.

"Is this turned on?"

She walked over to her bed and started slapping the wand against the mattress.

"Do you want me to try?"

"No, just wear the frock, it's pretty, we'll just go looking for something else tomorrow."

She threw the wand behind her and it flew across the room, landing behind Galinda's bed.

"You know I could, maybe, help you with the sorcery exercises", Elphaba offered.

"Oh Elphie, that would be fantastic! Thank you!"

Galinda proceeded to nearly suffocate Elphaba in a hug.

The hug left Elphaba startled for a moment.

She wasn't really used to being hugged, or even touched, for that matter, so the small gesture from Galinda filled her with an unfamiliar warmth.

Galinda hadn't noticed the effect of her embrace and just went on blabbering as excitedly as before.

"Now for the finishing touch!"

She took the pink rose out of her hair and worked it into one of Elphaba's dark strands.

"Pink goes good with green!"

Then she looked at Elphaba for a moment, a smile spreading across her face.

"Why Miss Elphaba, look at what a beauty you are!", Galinda rejoiced and handed her roommate a small silver hand mirror.

Elphaba stared at her image, the ridiculous pink lipstick smeared all over her mouth and the ridiculous flower in her now dishevelled hair clashing terribly with the colour of her skin.

Yet sowehow something had changed.

Galinda had said she was beautiful.

No one had ever told her that and much like the thing with the green bottle, Elphaba had never even considered looking at herself in any other way than the abominable disgrace she was for her father.

She felt tears welling up inside of her and the urgent need of fresh air.

"I - have to go", she stuttered out and leaped towards the door, leaving a confused Galinda behind in the dorm room.

"Your welcome", she called after Elphaba, slightly disgruntled by her roommates sudden escape.

"She'll learn to appreciate it once she's popular like me", Galinda said to herself.

"Well, not _exactly_ as popular as me, that's simply not possible", she added, stressing her statement with a satisfied nod and started to prepare for her beauty sleep.


End file.
